Showing results by publisher "Zaffre" in Romance

Cilka was only 16 years old when she was taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, in 1942. The Commandant at Birkenau, Schwarzhuber, noticed her long beautiful hair, and forced her separation from the other women prisoners. Cilka did what she had to in order to survive Auschwitz. And yet after Russian soldiers liberated Auschwitz in 1945, Cilka was charged as a collaborator and sentenced to serve a 15-year sentence for 'sleeping with the enemy'. Once again, she found herself on a brutal train journey, crammed into a carriage with many desperate women and children.

At the heart of Dover's Market Square lies the Castle's Café. A bustling, homely place run by the formidable Nellie Castle and her six children. Since the scandalous birth of her beloved son 10 years before, Marianne, Nellie's eldest daughter, has preferred to stay in the kitchen, hidden away from the town gossips. Overcome with shame, Marianne has never revealed the name of Donny's father - not even to her own mother. But with World War II just around the corner, Marianne's past catches up with her. And suddenly the lives of the Castle family become a lot more complicated.

Dover 1940 As firebombs fall on Dover, Edie Castle's life is thrown into turmoil when the garage where she lives and works is damaged and her beloved boss is arrested. With no job and nowhere else to go, Edie returns to Castle's Café and her formidable mother, Nellie. Living with her mother is never easy, but tensions reach boiling point when an old friend of Nellie's arrives looking for a place to stay. Meanwhile, desperate to clear her boss's name, Edie turns to his nephew for help.

When Frank Woods at number 79 Primrose Square comes home to a surprise birthday party thrown by his wife and adoring children, it is his guests who get the real surprise. Finding himself alone, he befriends the cantankerous Miss Hardcastle, who hasn't left her home for decades, and Emily Dunne - fresh out of rehab and desperate to make amends. As gossip spreads through Primrose Square, every relationship is tested, and nothing in this close-knit community will ever be the same again....

For over fifty years Egypt has known nothing but war and devastation at the hands of the Hyksos, a bloodthirsty barbarian people from the distant east who continue to advance, crushing armies in their wake. Times are desperate, but throughout the conflict, a brave resistance fights on under the great Taita, a slave who has risen far beyond his ranks. Piay, entrusted into Taita's care by his parents at the age of just five, has been trained to become a great spy, unmatched by any other. Determined to prove his worth, he embarks on a dangerous mission to the lands in the north.

Lily Moon, the local miner's daughter, spends her days as a parlour maid for Lord and Lady Bellingham at Oakley Manor, on the outskirts of Nuneaton. She's always been happy with her lot in life, and never expected more. But one day, everything changes when she temporarily becomes lady's maid to the Bellingham's daughter, Arabella, who is pregnant with the illegitimate child of her lover, and about to be unhappily married off to a man double her age.

Twenty-five-year-old Kat Bennett has never had a place to call home, and when she moves into the crumbling Shelley House, she thinks it will just be temporary. Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling has lived in Shelley House for longer than anyone can remember, and if you believe the other tenants, she's as cantankerous as they come. When the building faces demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy become unlikely allies in their quest to save their historic home...and even less likely investigators when they suspect that foul play is coming from inside the house.

When Libby Nicholls arrives in London, broken-hearted and with her life in tatters, the first person she meets on the bus is elderly pensioner Frank. He tells her about the time in 1962 he met a girl on the number 88 bus with beautiful red hair just like her own. They made plans for a date, but Frank lost the ticket with her number written on it. For the past sixty years, he's ridden the same bus trying to find her. Libby is inspired by the story and, with the help of an unlikely companion, she makes it her mission to continue Frank's search.

1875. With their father missing and their mother suddenly passing, Esme and Gabriel are forced to track down their estranged grandfather in Lincolnshire. Cold and unwelcoming, he is reluctant to take them in, but aware of his standing as the village vicar, he knows must protect his reputation, and allow the children to stay with him. Esme's relief at finding refuge soon turns to despair when Gabriel is sent to boarding school, leaving her alone in their grandfather's unhappy home. But the house isn't as empty as it first appeared.

Saffy Huntley-Oliver is beautiful, charming, rich, and in her spare time she's a serial killer. For the past fifteen years she's been hunting down and killing bad men: rapists, murderers, domestic abusers. As a hobby, it's not as Instagrammable as baking, but at least it's better for your thighs. The problem is, that it's hard to sustain a healthy, balanced heterosexual relationship when you're expecting to have to kill your boyfriend at any moment. She's lost her faith in mankind. That's why she's decided to look for a good man instead, preferably one who shares her interests.

As the Battle of Britain rages, the Castle family are standing their ground at the heart of the community, running Castle's Café. German guns shell Dover and danger lurks around every corner, but despite this, Lily Castle is excited to be starting her nursing career at last. Lily is enjoying her life. She's a good nurse, has a group of friends at the hospital and there is romance on the horizon. That is until her world comes crashing down around her. When she tries to help an injured prisoner of war at the hospital, she ends up implicated in a crime.

Ever feel like you're losing a race you never signed up for? Everyone in Amy's life seems to be getting married, having children and settling down (or so Instagram tells her), and she feels like she's falling behind. So, when her long-term boyfriend surprises her with a dream holiday, she thinks he's going to finally pop the big question. But the dream turns into a nightmare when, instead, she finds herself on the set of a Big Brother-style reality television show, The Shelf.

All is not well at Castle's Café. Since the fatal shooting, customers have been staying away, and now Nellie finds herself in debt to the sinister Terence Carter. But when a deadly attack strikes close to home, these troubles pale into insignificance. Meanwhile, Jimmy Castle's relationship with family friend Reenie Turner has deepened, and in the aftermath of the attack that could so easily have killed them, they decide to get married. But the return of an old friend threatens to expose a long-held secret, leaving the wedding teetering on the brink of disaster.

Daphne, a young Jewish Greek artist, finds her life under threat during the Nazi occupation of Athens. In love with her Austrian art teacher, together they must risk it all to escape his dangerous brother, an SS officer. Pursued across Greece, their journey ends on the island of Corfu. In 2023 Liverpool, fine art restorer Flora is planning her Granny Daphne's 100th birthday. Nearing the end of her life, Daphne tells Flora of a valuable piece of art from her youth. A masterpiece which bought her freedom but cost her everything she held dear.

Meet Meg Monroe, the fixer. If you want to get rid of someone, you call Meg. (No, not like that - this would be a very different book!) Using her brilliant intuition, people-reading skills and with masterful manipulation, Meg befriends her mark and tells them what they want to hear, using it to convince them to see the error of their ways. She's never once found a case she can't handle - affairs, clingy former-friends, useless employees and exes that can't take the hint. But when a blast from the past turns up on Meg's doorstep, will she get caught in her own web of lies?

It's 1942, and World War Two is in full swing. Roberta 'Bobby' Hollis has joined the Air Transport Auxiliary in a team of pilots known as the 'glamour girls'. Just as capable as the men, these women ferry aircraft, parts and people between factories, assembly plants and airfields.

1942, Manchester. World War II is in full swing, and Lily Mullins is determined to do her bit for the war effort. Her friends and sweetheart have all joined up, and Lily's sure there must be a role for her that goes further than knitting socks for the troops! When she decides to volunteer for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Lily soon discovers that she has a talent as a wireless operator. Helped along the way by a special gang of girls, she finds strengths she didn't know she had and realises that the safety of the country might just be in her hands....

Abandoned by her parents in favour of a sea view, middle-class Georgiana Ellers has moved to a new town to live with her dreary aunt and uncle. At a particularly dull dinner party, she meets the enigmatic Frances Campbell, a wealthy socialite and enchanting member of the in-crowd. Through Frances and her friends, Georgiana is introduced to a new world of wild parties, drunken debauchery, mysterious young men with strangely alluring hands and the sparkling upper echelons of Regency society.

Emily Laurence is a liar. She is not polite, she's not polished, and she has never taught a child in her life. This position was meant to be her sister's - brilliant, kind Amy, who isn't perpetually angry, dangerously reckless, and who does like children. But Amy is unwell and needs a doctor, their father is gone and their mother is useless, so here Emily is, pretending to be something she's not. If she can get away with her deception for long enough to earn a few month's wages and slip some expensive trinkets into her pockets along the way, perhaps they'll be all right.

Malta, 1943. The war in the air above Malta is over, but the battle for Europe is about to begin. Margarita, a young singer in a Valletta nightclub, has not seen her former lover Henry Dunn since breaking off their affair. His wife Vera, an enigmatic archaeologist, arrives at the club to tell her that Henry has disappeared, presumed dead. While investigating, Margarita stumbles upon the hunt for a notorious and dangerous spy: Nero. As an unlikely bond develops between the two women, and strange secrets emerge, an urgent quest to unmask Nero starts.